PRODUCTS OF SOIL.— TRIBUTE. 215 



certain public occasions. His Basutos are of the same family 

 with the Makololo to whom I refer. The younger Makololo, who 

 have been accustomed from their infancy to lord it over the con- 

 quered Makalaka, have unfortunately no desire to imitate the ag- 

 ricultural tastes of their fathers, and expect their subjects to per- 

 form all the manual labor. They are the aristocracy of the 

 country, and once possessed almost unlimited power over their 

 vassals. Their privileges were, however, much abridged by Se- 

 bituane himself. 



I have already mentioned that the tribes which Sebituane sub- 

 jected in this great country pass by the general name of Maka- 

 laka. The Makololo were composed of a great number of other 

 tribes, as well as of these central negroes. The nucleus of the 

 whole were Basuto, who came with Sebituane from a compara- 

 tively cold and hilly region in the south. When he conquered 

 various tribes of the Bechuanas, as Bakwains, Bangwaketze, Ba- 

 mangwato, Batauana, etc., he incorporated the young of these 

 tribes into his own. Great mortality by fever having taken 

 place in the original stock, he wisely adopted the same plan of 

 absorption on a large scale with the Makalaka. So we found him 

 with even the sons of the chiefs of the Barotse closely attached to 

 his person ; and they say to this day, if any thing else but natu- 

 ral death had assailed their father, every one of them would have 

 laid down his life in his defense. One reason for their strong af- 

 fection was their emancipation by the decree of Sebituane, " all 

 are children of the chief." 



The Makalaka cultivate the Holcus sorghum, or dura, as the prin- 

 cipal grain, with maize, two kinds of beans, ground-nuts (Arachis 

 hypogoza), pumpkins, watermelons, and cucumbers. They depend 

 for success entirely upon rain. Those who live in the Barotse 

 valley cultivate in addition the sugar-cane, sweet potato, and ma- 

 nioc (Jatrqpha manihoi). The climate there, however, is warmer 

 than at Linyanti, and the Makalaka increase the fertility of their 

 gardens by rude attempts at artificial irrigation. 



The instrument of culture over all this region is a hoe, the iron 

 of which the Batoka and Banyeti obtain from the ore by smelt- 

 ing. The amount of iron which they produce annually may be un- 

 derstood when it is known that most of the hoes in use at Linyanti 

 are the tribute imposed on the smiths of those subject tribes. 



